It was one of the most anticipated games before becoming the most feared by Batman fans. Rocksteady Studios, to whom we owe the legendary Arkham saga, have been working on a multiplayer game for 8 years. The looter shooter Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is finally out, but is it the disaster predicted?
History
Whether Batman fans like it, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an integral part of the Arkhamverse with all that that implies for both the characters and the lore. The title developed by Rocksteady Studios is the direct sequel to the Arkham saga and sets its plot after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight. The otherworldly conqueror known as Brainiac has set his sights on planet Earth with every intention of conquering it. To do this, he offered himself the services of the Justice League via clever brainwashing which transformed Superman, Batman and even Green Lantern into docile and powerful servants.
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Faced with this unprecedented threat, secret paramilitary government agency ARGUS is extracting some of the DC Universe's worst criminals from their cells to kill members of the Justice League one by one… just that. It must be said that our four anti-heroes don't really have a choice. ARGUS boss Amanda Waller implanted a nano-bomb in them without their knowledge. The deal is simple: succeed in the suicide mission or die trying. Unfortunately for fans of the Dark Knight, this can only mean one thing. Batman's death, in a way, marks the end of the Arkhamverse.
Graphics
Among the game's many qualities is its purely plastic beauty. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is beautiful and produced with the greatest care. The game can also count on an engine that has proven itself many times… Unreal Engine 4… to making this version of Metropolis an apocalyptic splendor. Certainly, there is hardly a soul living in the stronghold of Superman and the Justice League, but that is completely understandable. Task Force Metropolis has fallen to Brainiac and his meta-human minions. Only the buildings and a handful of survivors remain to be saved in this megalopolis that has become a necropolis.
Gameplay
It’s time to get to the heart of the matter. A video game is judged mainly by its gameplay. Rocksteady studios wanted to make a multiplayer video game and they succeeded… but at what cost? Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice belongs to the looter shooter genre and this choice taken by the creative teams is not without consequences. It's even the opposite. Both terms perfectly sum up the fun adventure that awaits you. Eliminate enemies by the thousands and obtain equipment to return to missions again and again during an eternal quest for power.
Fortunately, the shooting and movement sensations are excellent. This is an essential prerequisite for having a good time alongside Task Force X given that the fun experience imagined by Rocksteady is primarily based on fun confrontations. It's really exhilarating to shoot down Brainiac's forces and flutter above Metropolis with the 4 anti-heroes who form the Suicide Squad. Then Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang play really differently even if their gameplay necessarily rests on common bases.
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Scenario
Who says Suicide Squad says in 2024 offbeat tone and schoolboy humor. Kill the Justice League is no exception to the rule on this point and should appeal to fans of the film The Suicide Squad directed in 2021 by James Gunn. The writers at work love these anti-heroes and it shows. He gets out of the game a real passion for these criminals forced to act for the common good. It's refreshing to experience a superheroic epic that skillfully alternates between over-the-top epic and uninhibited nonsense. But the adventure begins on the hard side with a really awkward flashforward tutorial which only serves to introduce each character and their gameplay specificities… we've seen better!
It is clear that the pen that gave birth to this apocalyptic story was inspired by comic books to create its own vision of Brainiac's invasion and the fall of the Justice League. This transition to the enemy is also completely obscured by the staging. The game prefers to mention it rather than show it or even better to experience it.
Content
Suicide Squad requires between 15 and 20 hours to complete depending on the difficulty level selected, of which there are 3, and your controller skills in hand. But the adventure has only just begun. The endgame is the real reason for this looter shooter which follows the great precepts of the masters of the genre. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League stands out for the scale of this famous endgame with its interdimensional incursions and its specific loot with increased power. The endgame unsurprisingly suffers from the problems encountered throughout the main campaign against the Justice League.
The Rocksteady Studios title is repetitive to the last degree and struggles to renew itself, even after a few hours of play. Yes, the rise in power of your characters gives heart to the work and encourages players to give their all, but the feeling of doing the same thing over and over is persistent. The missions and their objectives boil down to defend, escort, eliminate and survive… and that's it. There are a few variations, so as not to fall too quickly into “déjà vu”, but it doesn’t go very far.
Suicide Squad is a cooperative game that was originally designed as such. And it is true that the adventure is much more pleasant and refreshing once shared with three other companions in misfortune. The four-player multiplayer experience enhances the hunt for members of the Justice League and then Brainiac without managing to erase all the flaws mentioned above. Finally, the presence of an in-game store might displease some players, but for the moment there is nothing Pay to Win about it. She is content to sell new outfits sold for several euros.
Conclusion
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is not the purge announced. It's an effective looter shooter that relies on its plastic beauty, its energetic gameplay and its mastery of the mysteries of role-playing games to seduce. Unfortunately, too many negative points taint a carefully crafted adventure, starting with an omnipresent repetitiveness which ultimately ruins the pure pleasure of shooting and looting. The Arkhamverse deserved better.